Publications by authors named "B Overbeek"
Article Synopsis
- - This study focused on understanding the medical complications that patients with minimally conscious state (MCS) experience and how these complications affect decisions about their care.
- - Out of 32 MCS patients, common complications included hypertonia/spasticity and pneumonia, with the majority having curative treatment goals, although some faced challenges due to disagreements with family or medical instability.
- - The findings highlight that medical complications are frequent in MCS patients, complicating decision-making, and suggest the need for specialized care and further research in this area.
Article Synopsis
- The text outlines the objective of updating the 'Post-acute Level Of Consciousness scale' (PALOC-s) to reflect current scientific knowledge about consciousness levels.
- Developed 20 years ago, the original scale helps track the progress of unconscious young patients during rehab, but advances in understanding necessitate changes in terminology and structure.
- The revised scale, now called PALOC-sr, is ready for clinical use and should be validated for effective application in future research.
Article Synopsis
- The study aimed to determine the prevalence of patients in a minimally conscious state (MCS) in the Netherlands, focusing on data from hospitals, rehabilitation facilities, and nursing homes as of September 15, 2021.
- A total of 70 patients were reported, with 32 confirmed in MCS, primarily due to traumatic brain injuries; the prevalence rate calculated was 0.2-0.3 cases per 100,000 people.
- Findings highlighted that many patients had received specialized rehabilitation, with common signs of consciousness including visual tracking and responsive movements.*
Article Synopsis
- Deep brain stimulation (DBS) of the central thalamus is being researched as a way to improve consciousness in patients with severe brain injuries, showing varying degrees of success, yet the exact mechanism remains unclear.
- A study using magnetoencephalography revealed that lower frequency DBS (50 Hz) led to a more significant increase in brain connectivity and neural activity compared to higher frequency settings, which also resulted in improvements in patient functions like visual pursuit and swallowing after years of inactivity.
- Despite these enhancements, the patient's neural activity remained substantially lower than that of healthy individuals, indicating that while DBS can help re-activate certain brain functions, it doesn't fully restore cognitive capabilities in severely injured patients.
Background: The aim of this Delphi study was to reach consensus about definition, operationalization and assessment of visual pursuit (VP) and visual fixation (VF).
Methods: In a three-round international Delphi study, clinical and research experts on disorders of consciousness indicated their level of agreement on 87 statements using a 5-point Likert scale. Consensus for agreement was defined by a median of 5, an interquartile range (IQR) ≤ 1, and ≥ 80% indicating moderate or strong agreement.